GCU kicks into gear for Friday night win

Friday, April 8

St. George, Utah

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

21-11, 11-2

Dixie State

14-15, 8-5

Grand Canyon

Dixie State

4/8/2022 8:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lopes trailed 2-0 through 4 before pitching settled, offense got rolling at Dixie State

By: Josh Hauser

ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Grand Canyon baseball team kicked into gear in the fifth inning, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 7-2 victory to open a three-game series at Dixie State on Friday night.

GCU (21-11, 11-2 WAC) was held to two hits through the first four innings and trailed 2-0 after allowing a two-run single in the third inning.

The script quickly flipped in the fifth, as the Lopes outhit the Trailblazers 11-2 the rest of the way and reeled off seven unanswered runs to win for the fourth straight time.

"It's the ability to weather some storms," GCU head coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "They jumped out early, but the guys didn't panic. Our at bats got a little bit stingier, a little bit grittier at the plate. We put some good situational hitting together."

GCU broke through in the top of the fifth. Sophomore left fielder Cade Verdusco began the rally with a leadoff single. Sophomore center fielder Homer Bush Jr. also singled, setting the stage for an RBI double to deep left field by graduate catcher Sy Snedeker. Sophomore third baseman Dustin Crenshaw produced a run with a productive ground out, and sophomore second baseman Elijah Buries drew a walk. The sophomore theme continued when shortstop Jacob Wilson laced a two-out single into left field to push GCU in front for good.

"Sy Snedeker had a big double the opposite way," Stankiewicz said. "Crenshaw hit a ground ball to get a run in. The great at bat was Elijah Buries taking Ball 4 to get Jacob to the plate for a big base hit knock to take the lead. Better at bats. Their starter also mixed his pitches really well early and kept us off balance early. That was a great job of not panicking. Just play our game and stay within ourselves. That's what we did."

The Lopes tacked on more runs via a pair of two-run homers. Junior right fielder Tayler Aguilar got a hold of his eighth of the season in the sixth, scoring Verdusco who had singled.

In the ninth, sophomore first baseman Tyler Wilson homered for the third straight game to score Jacob Wilson who had singled. Wilson's two-run shot extended GCU's lead to five and allowed junior closer Vince Reilly to take a seat in the Lopes bullpen.

"That was a big blow late in the game to put us up by five," Stankiewicz said. "What we're looking for out of all of our offense more than anything else is consistency."

While the offense warmed up in the middle innings, graduate starting pitcher Nick Hull hit his stride. The right-hander allowed only one hit in the final three innings of his outing, striking out four in the same span to finish with seven strikeouts on the night and his third victory of the season.

"I had to figure out some mechanical issues and really just care about getting the ball in the zone," Hull said. "About the fifth inning, I just started to use my legs a little better and my fastball had more life and my slider had some better spin."

Despite admittedly not having his best stuff, Hull matched his career high of seven innings pitched.

"I would say a positive of (not having his best stuff) was I like to think that my mental game was good because you can easily just crumble in that situation and give up a ton of runs and not help the team," said Hull, who had to wait until the fifth inning to get run support. "I'm never worried about (GCU's offense). We're hot right now, and even when we're not hot, someone's going to find a barrel and get it done."

Junior left-hander Eli Ankeney struck out three of the four batters he faced in one scoreless inning of relief, and junior righty Blake Reilly closed out the game with a 1-2-3 frame and a pair of strikeouts.

GCU finished the day with 13 hits, including Bush's game-high three. Four Lopes posted multi-hit days and eight of the nine GCU starters had a hit. The Lopes improved to 18-2 in games that they hit at least one home run.

The Lopes and Trailblazers will continue the three-game set on Saturday at 1 p.m. (Phoenix time).